ctrl-alt-expletive

About ctrl-alt-expletive

Join us for a laid back catch up on what's going on in the world of software, enterprise business, news for software and tech, and miscellaneous bureaucracy.

Publisher

Mark McCracken & Michael McCarthy

Category

business · news · technology

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

14 Nov 2024

Latest episode

31 Jul 2026

Latest episodes

17 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   31 Jul 2026

   Episode 17: Graphic Design, Freelancing and AI, with Adelaide Leeder

   Illustrator and graphic designer Adelaide Leeder joins us to talk about creative careers, freelance client disasters, pricing design work, and what generative AI means for artists. Mark returns from Truck Festival with a giant battery and a solar panel Michael tries mindful coffee drinking after reaching ten cups a day Adelaide reveals what Michael was like at university We discover that blunt feedback can make you an excellent design client Subscribe to our new Newsletter! (https://newsletter.ctrl-alt-expletive.com/subscribe) Stay informed about new episodes, and get beautiful news and recommendation links. Who is Adelaide Leeder? Adelaide is an illustrator and graphic designer at Bally’s, the designer of the ctrl-alt-expletive branding, and one of Michael’s oldest friends. She talks about moving from animation and web work into illustration, designing games, making props for film, and creating work that still feels personal. Quickfire Questions Spend a day doing 2D or 3D design? When starting a character design, pen and paper or a digital notepad? Design one important logo or a whole series of illustrations? After Effects or Flash? What is the biggest misconception freelance clients have about design work? How much completed work never makes it into your portfolio? Does AI image generation make you nervous about employment? What is your dream creative job? Breaking Prod Adelaide tells us about the freelance children’s game that lasted for roughly five years, involved endless revisions and several thousand pounds of unpaid work, and ended with the client asking Adelaide to compensate them for changing illustrator. Big Topic: Freelance Design Is freelance work a dream job or a necessary evil? What work should a designer include in a portfolio? Why should freelancers take 50% up front? How long should mood boards and initial concepts take? Hourly rates or day rates? How do you price repeat clients and work for friends? How much direction should come from the client? How do designers collaborate with developers and animators? Do tools like Squarespace mean fewer people need bespoke web design? How do freelancers handle invoicing, tax, irregular work and late payment? AI, Creativity and the Future of Design Where does AI genuinely save designers time? When does inspiration or assistance become passing off generated work as your own? What is lost when phone software “fixes” memories and removes imperfections? Can clients already recognise the look of AI-generated work? Will demand grow for handmade, analogue and demonstrably human work? Are physical crafts such as prop-making becoming more appealing as digital work becomes easier to generate? News Online age checks now in force (https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/protecting-children/online-age-checks-must-be-in-force-from-tomorrow) — Ofcom The UK Online Safety Act, age verification, privacy, and why VPN use surged after the new rules came into force What a VPN actually does, legitimate privacy uses, and whether you should trust a commercial VPN provider Recommendations Books The Psychology of Money, by Morgan Housel Men in Love, by Irvine Welsh Talks and Podcasts Do schools kill creativity? (https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity) — Sir Ken Robinson, TED The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott TV & Film Here We Go — BBC comedy Joker: Folie à Deux Severance, season two — Apple TV+ Untamed — Netflix Music TONGUE, including “Dyson Airblade” Technology Nanoleaf light strips If you've enjoyed the show, recommend it to a friend! Or leave us a rating/review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to help others find us. Subscribe to our new Newsletter! (https://newsletter.ctrl-alt-expletive.com/subscribe) Stay informed about new episodes, and get beautiful news and recommendation links. GIVE US FEEDBACK! Do this form, it will take 4 mins (https://forms.office.com/e/gQJFBRJJAY) Special Guest: Adelaide Leeder.

2. 

   13 Jun 2025

   Episode 16: FinOps, with Alison McIntyre

   Alison McIntyre, Director of Cloud Economics at Capgemini, explores modern FinOps, the FinOps report, and team structures in this interview episode.

3. 

   29 Mar 2025

   Episode 15: Working with Neurodiversity

   Chris Knight, Head of Data & AI Demand, Delivery & Financial Operations, talks about his work life, and dealing with Neurodivergence Mark has been fiddling around with Kit and automation for emails for our newsletter. Chris is says you can only last a week without a dishwasher Michael calls people Rain Man. Hasn't even seen it. Subscribe to our new Newsletter! (https://newsletter.ctrl-alt-expletive.com/subscribe) Stay informed about new episodes, and get beautiful news and recommendation links. Who is Chris Knight? Chris has a very unusual story of how he eventually landed into his senior role. Buckle in! Quickfire Questions: What’s one thing that’s certain to distract you, when you’re working? When are you at your most focused? Do deadlines help or stress you out? What’s something neurotypical people often get wrong about neurodivergence? One app or tool you couldn’t live without? You meet someone new at work, and although they haven’t come out and said “I’m Neurodivergent”, you can just tell. What sort of things are you noticing? What does time management look like for neurodivergent people? Breaking Prod Chris is breaking records in style, with an email whoopsie to all customers Big Topic: Neurodiveristy What sort of stigma comes with being neurodivergent? Have you tried during your career did you pretend you weren't neurodivergent, by “masking”? Did you ever tell yourself, or have other people tell you, “you need to try harder”, even though you felt you were already giving it your all? When’s the right time to tell your boss/employer? From the corporate side, what does good support look like from your employer? In some ways, your Neurodivergence makes things more difficult – are there any ways in which it’s your superpower? What's your take on medication? What should parents know about neurodivergence? How do you support your daughter? News TikTok Misinformation Is Warping Young People's Understanding of ADHD (https://www.sciencealert.com/tiktok-misinformation-is-warping-young-peoples-understanding-of-adhd) (sciencealert.com) “of the top 100 most-viewed TikTok videos tagged for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) content, fewer than half matched the professional diagnostic criteria for the condition.” “using the top 100's five most accurate and five least accurate videos, as judged by clinical psychologists. These 10 clips were then shown to 843 undergraduates taking an introductory psychology course, who were asked to rate them based on their perceived educational value. While the best five videos scored an average of 3.6 from psychologists for accuracy, they only got a score of 2.8 from the students. The worst five videos for accuracy scored 1.1 from psychologists, but 2.3 from students.” Wes Streeting: there is overdiagnosis of mental health conditions. Health secretary says too many people are being ‘written off’ and that is driving ministers’ changes to welfare (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/19/culture-warriors-overdiagnosis-mental-health-cuts) (The Guardian) From Wes Streeting: “Here’s the other thing, mental wellbeing, illness, it’s a spectrum and I think definitely there’s an overdiagnosis, but there’s too many people being written off and, to your point about treatment, too many people who just aren’t getting the support they need. So if you can get that support to people much earlier, then you can help people to either stay in work or get back to work.” Neurodiverse staff well suited to a changing world (https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/article/neurodiverse-staff-well-suited-to-a-changing-world-pmzztt69k) (The Times, paywalled) > "People with conditions such as autism, ADHD, dyspraxia and dyslexia bring unique skills to the workplace" Recommendations Neurodivergence NHS Website (https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/pharmacy/transforming/initial/foundation/resources/edi/neurodiversity) ADHD Love, YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/@ADHD_love) How to ADHD, by Jessica McCabe (https://howtoadhdbook.com/) TV LOL: Last One Laughing (https://www.amazon.co.uk/LOL-Last-One-Laughing-Season/dp/B0DSJRWRHC), reality comedy on Amazon Prime Gangs of London (https://www.sky.com/watch/gangs-of-london) Action Drama from Sky Music Why? - The Well I Fell Into :: Alternative :: Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/gb/album/the-well-i-fell-into/1742837370) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/album/6s2rZ96eQJvjsN5j9eIv1Y) · YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAy2wbQa84SouruZQBc91U0iMo0UKIclG) HHY & the Kampala Unit :: Electronic Jazz :: Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/hhy-the-kampala-unit/1531710246) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/artist/7GcuBD0DAlemw4ebJU925p) · YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ5uFxLSDeRApuTFBb1gyjg) Wilkinson :: Electronic, Drum 'n' Bass :: Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/wilkinson/3075647) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/artist/6m8itYST9ADjBIYevXSb1r) · YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtaTjkogAC3Xh5J-ZPdX0BQ) If you've enjoyed the show, recommend it to a friend! Or leave us a rating/review on apple/spotify to help others find us. Subscribe to our new Newsletter! (https://newsletter.ctrl-alt-expletive.com/subscribe) Stay informed about new episodes, and get beautiful news and recommendation links. GIVE US FEEDBACK! Do this form, it will take 4 mins (https://forms.office.com/e/gQJFBRJJAY) Special Guest: Chris Knight.

4. 

   21 Mar 2025

   Episode 14: DevOps, Platform Engineering and Site Reliability Engineering, with Dave McNeill

   We have the long awaited and hugely experienced Dave McNeill, talking all things Operations, DevOps, Site Reliability Engineering, Platform Engineering, tales of incidents, working in a startup environment, opinions on golang and python, and so much more. Subscribe to our new Newsletter! (https://newsletter.ctrl-alt-expletive.com/subscribe). Stay informed about new episodes, and get beautiful news and recommendation links. Michael has been feeling old We're using Vault and wondering about building kubernetes operators Who is Dave McNeill? How did you first get into computers? How did you get your first job in tech? Where are you working now, What does your day to day job look like? Quickfire Questions Vim, VSCode, or vibe coding in cursor? You can only code in one language for the rest of your life, what do you pick? Personal texting – preferred platform? Why? Why not whatsapp? Biggest user crime of making container images? Oldest piece of untouched software you’ve seen running in production? Breaking Prod Leaderboard Surely someone in Ops has seen something go wrong... with account balances? Big Topics Hot Takes, and what Dave thinks of them: "SRE is just re-branded Ops" "DevOps is Dead, Long Live Platform Engineering" "Programming Languages will become obsolete, English is the new programming language" "Disaster recovery training is just something google wrote in a book and nobody does it" News * More supply chain attacks (https://www.wiz.io/blog/new-github-action-supply-chain-attack-reviewdog-action-setup) (wiz.io blog) Google Acquires Wiz for $32 Billion (https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2025/03/18/google-acquire-wiz-32-billion/) (helpnetsecurity.com) Amazon removing privacy options from Alexa (https://www.techspot.com/news/107175-amazon-removing-option-local-alexa-processing-forcing-all.html) (techspot.com) BYD have a car that charges in 5 minutes (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/mar/18/byd-ev-fast-charging-system-petrol-fuel-speed) (The Guardian) Recommendations DevOps, Platform Eng, SRE The SRE Handbook (https://sre.google/sre-book/table-of-contents/) (Free google book) A Tour of Go website (https://go.dev/tour/list) Release It! (https://pragprog.com/titles/mnee2/release-it-second-edition/) (pragmatic prorammer bookshelf) Platform Engineering, Camille Fournier Music Truthpaste :: Manchester Indie Pop :: Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/truthpaste/1793805265) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/artist/1jX7jSANud3GSSMfs41KPs) · YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRsdPzCthUM&t=1s) Sharon Van Etten - Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory :: American singer-songwriter Alternative Album :: Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/gb/album/sharon-van-etten-the-attachment-theory/1770826874) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/album/5aGKc7OL3d1aJodCG2747F?si=o2VqwgKbTIernpKx6ES8GQ) · YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kwnCx-2Y7F_8SM8dLrOiz8aLML14-9OgU) The Bug Club :: Welsh indie energetic garage and punk :: Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/the-bug-club/1552259279) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/artist/7eiTMbuHYUPjrAMjIhAVDB?si=jo2FyAeARCCVfB7stSfTJA) · YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChXs6Ghb4yDtMGHypiRPj7w) TV Adolesence (https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81756069) (Netflix) School Swap: UK to USA (https://www.channel4.com/programmes/school-swap-uk-to-usa) (Channel 4) Podcast Steering Engineering (https://steering-engineering-podcast.simplecast.com) If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a recommendation, subscribe to our new newsletter (https://newsletter.ctrl-alt-expletive.com/subscribe), but most importantly, tell a friend! Special Guest: Dave McNeill.

5. 

   14 Mar 2025

   Episode 13: Scaled Agile processes and stories with Raxit Ramani

   We've got Raxit Ramani, a highly experienced Agile Coach and Project Manager talking about Scaled Agile, SAFe, Stories of things being wrong, and how different government bodies have operated in the past. Subscribe to our new Newsletter! (https://newsletter.ctrl-alt-expletive.com/subscribe). Stay informed about new episodes, and get beautiful news and recommendation links. Michael is still pale after a weekend in the sun. He didn't shed a tear after being in the Spa's floation tank Mark dropped a treadmill on his foot. Raxit had a good job interview You only need one server, given it is sufficiently powerful... Quickfire Questions Your opinion of Agile, in one word. Personal preference: Public sector or private sector work? What’s the biggest crime against Jira? Worst excuse you’ve ever heard for missing a sprint goal or PI goal, or just not having a bit of work done? Longest you’ve ever seen a story carried over in the next, and the next, and the next sprint? You join a team, day 1, they show you their organisation stuff, and they do all planning in excel. Do you go with the flow, or immediately advocate something else? Why? Biggest red flag that someone isn’t really agile? What’s a task you dread doing throughout the PI increment? Most valuable certifications? ## Breaking Prod Leaderboard We have a new winner! With 3 distinct stories! Big topic for the week How would you describe to a new developer, the definition of modern agile software development? What’s it all about? You’ve done a scrum master / agile lead type role before. How does a department know when it’s ready to start thinking about a scaled agile framework? What sort of problems might they notice first that agile hasn’t seemed to solve for them, even though they’re doing scrum and/or kanban well? If 5 or so teams have identified the problem, how do they get business buy-in to get someone in to help with a scaled agile framework? Have you seen a scaled agile implementation fail? What are the biggest mis-steps in scaled agile failing? How would you even know it’s failing? What sort of stuff gets measured? Are there KPIs? Does it make any impact on individual contributors? Or is this just something that helps their managers and product owners be better organised? Do top software companies do this? Are there any scenarios you’ve seen people implement this, and it was just the wrong idea? News Google chrome sale from DOJ (https://www.macrumors.com/2025/03/10/doj-google-chrome-sale/) (MacRumors) Google donates to Trump inauguration (https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/09/google-donates-1-million-to-trumps-inauguration-fund.html) (CNBC) Artists release album “Is This What We Want?”, protesting AI (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/feb/25/kate-bush-damon-albarn-1000-artists-silent-ai-protest-album-copyright) (The Guardian) HR managers creates 22 fake employees and cashes their pay check for 10 years (https://townflex.com/hr-manager-created-22-fake-employees-steal-2-2-million/) (TownFlex.com) Recommendations SAFe & Scaled Agile Scaled Agile Website (https://scaledagile.com) The Art of Avoiding a Trainwreck (https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9781094752280/ART-Avoiding-Train-Wreck-Practical-1094752282/plp) (Abe Books) Learning Agile (https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/learning-agile/9781449363819/) (O'Reilly) Tech Ghostty (https://ghostty.org) vs. Warp (https://www.warp.dev), and oh-my-posh (https://ohmyposh.dev) Music Courting - Lust for Life, Or: 'How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story' :: British Alt Rock album :: Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/gb/album/lust-for-life-or-how-to-thread-the-needle-and-come/1773066446) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/album/7m3pnC0KsBgoLlkTkiaId6?si=LQlcNK7ZRFKqOdvi3Ar5yA) · YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILaWbHwRjXo&list=PLHTo__bpnlYUN_ffmtGQXosM0w-IkQjxz) Mercury Rev :: American Rock Band :: Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/mercury-rev/3240538) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/artist/77oD8X9qLXZhpbCjv53l5n) · YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMmXzJaR-kZgt12dhyncGCw) Fat White Family - Champagne Holocaust :: British Alt Rock album :: Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/gb/album/champagne-holocaust-deluxe-edition/1090360470) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/album/6WeKsrSDY4XHEYenu3HEZc) · YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSWOXeS19vdpX4GxZTkcj5A) The Limiñanas :: French Rock band:: Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/the-limi%C3%B1anas/389053777) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/artist/2joJCoCL4EmiVqic3vZn7n?si=RaChBiS7RyiFSOOXY-WVqQ) · YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqtSEOA-Toztj74wKq6H7gw) DJ Counselling - Caring EP :: House album :: Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/gb/album/caring-ep/1733656722) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/album/1OlUD0LH7yiFLfDiSatt8l) · YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nu0JuFN5xhXWVQNJhkl327YJNYWCfuN7E) TV Drive to Survive (https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80204890) (Netflix) Zero Day (https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81598435) (Netflix) Daredevil: Born Again (https://www.disneyplus.com/en-gb/series/daredevil-born-again/6Eu8fmI0MaUk) (Disney+) Special Guest: Raxit Ramani.

6. 

   24 Feb 2025

   Episode 12: Engineering Management with Director of Engineering Sam Jones

   We've got Director of Engineering Sam Jones talking all things Engineering Management. How to get into it, how she stays organised, great books to learn from, and how she approaches the challenges of the job. Michael prepares for putting together an event on developer experience Sam helps merge 2 companies together RIP duolingo bird Who is Sam Jones (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammiej/)? loosely... Frontend Dev -> Team Lead @ gamesys ---> Eng. Manager @ Monzo -----> Director of Eng. @ Benifex Quickfire Questions One to ones, all in one day or evenly spread throughout the week? Best new joiner swag you’ve ever had? Scrum or Kanban? Longest probation period you’ve ever heard of? Ever failed someone’s probation? Ever failed probation yourself? Interviewing off camera – yay or nay? Best team building activity? Slack or Teams? Breaking Prod The near miss that could've topped our leaderboard, working on trading systems Big Topic How do you get into it? What does training look like, for an engineering manager? Skip levels – do you do these? How often? Best way you’ve improved your abilities as an engineering manager? The danger zone! What it is and how to work through it? Is AI coming for your job? How do you see signs of burnout in people you’re managing? What are your KPIs as an engineering manager? Stack ranking employees – necessary evil? How do you make the jump from managing engineers, to managing managers? ## News Alphabet drops a longstanding ban on AI being used for developing weapons (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy081nqx2zjo) (BBC) ELON MUSK act (https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/05/the-elon-musk-act-aims-to-ban-special-government-employees-from-having-federal-contracts/) (TechCrunch). The proposed bill is called the ELON MUSK Act, which stands for “Eliminate Looting of Our Nation by Mitigating Unethical State Kleptocracy” Asahi Linux Hector Martin project leads resigns – maintainer burnout (https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/13/ashai_linux_head_quits) (The Register) Apple Lamp - Expressive and Functional Movement Design for Non-Anthropomorphic Robot research paper (https://machinelearning.apple.com/research/elegnt-expressive-functional-movement) (Apple) Hauwei release tri-folding phone (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv_S7KrOlfk) (Youtube - Marques Brownlee) Recommendations Engineering Management Books Resilient Management, Lara Hogan (https://resilient-management.com) Management 3.0 (https://management30.com/books/management30/) The Manager's Path, Camille Fournier (https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/the-managers-path/9781491973882/) (O'Reilly) An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management, Will Larson (https://press.stripe.com/an-elegant-puzzle) (Stripe Press) Become an Effective Software Engineering Manager (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50363684-become-an-effective-software-engineering-manager) (Good Reads) Managing Humans: Biting and Humourous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager, Michael Lopp (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4302-4315-1?gtmf=s) Scaling People, Claire Hughes Johnson (https://press.stripe.com/scaling-people) (Stripe Press) Non Engineering Management Books The Staff Engineer's Path (https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/the-staff-engineers/9781098118723/) (O'Reilly) Platform Engineering, Camille Fournier (https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/platform-engineering/9781098153632/) (O'Reilly) Music I Love You, Honebear - Father John Misty (https://music.apple.com/gb/album/i-love-you-honeybear/931563362) (Apple Music). Royal Albert Hall Event (https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/events/2025/father-john-misty) Movies Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32063050/) (IMDb) Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2049403/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_1_tt_5_nm_2_in_0_q_beetlejuice) (IMDb) Miscellaneous Canada vs. USA ice hockey match, 3 fights in first 9 seconds of play (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUa6c7DNmQY) (YouTube) Next Time Rax talks about Scaled Agile frameworks Listen to the end to hear this episodes bloopers! If you've enjoyed the show, please recommend us to someone else who would like it, leave us a rating/review, or give us some feedback. Give us your feedback about the podcast (https://www.ctrl-alt-expletive.com/feedback) Special Guest: Sam Jones.

7. 

   21 Feb 2025

   Episode 11: Tech for Good: Games for Kids in Hospital with creative director Nikki Stearman

   We've got BAFTA winning Creative Director Nikki Stearman, talking about tech for good. She shares her experience designing and crafting experiences for children who are about to go to hospital, to help them understand what the environment and procedure will be like. Michael's office refurb continues, as he trades signed music memorabilia for music speakers The great rebrand is in the works Lenny steals a lunch Nikki shows off her BAFTA Quickfire Questions Mac or PC? Greatest gaming console ever? Greatest game ever? Most addictive game on your phone? Yorkshire or East Anglia? Morris Ring, Morris Foundation, or Open Morris? Spend a day doing Freelance work, or a day doing your permanent job? Do you version control your code? Is big tech fundamentally evil? Death of Flash – sad or not sad? Breaking prod? Well that won't earn you a BAFTA! Nikki does her homework. Big Topic: Tech for good, making games for kids Tech for good – conscious choice or something you walked in to? Do you worry about screen time? Would you / have you ever taken a role you feel morally ambiguous about? How close do you get to the end user of your product? What’s a kid’s first interaction like with the games your company makes? Does it show demonstrable results in treatment? Do you make any games in your spare time? Research from Dylan Yamada-Rice on Exploring Children's attitides towards notions fo the digital good through hybrid arts (https://digitalgood.net/dg-research/exploring-childrens-attitudes-towards-notions-of-the-digital-good-through-hybrid-arts-practice/) News Are noise cancelling headphones causing health problems? (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgkjvr7x5x6o) Children’s views on AI will form the manifesto for world leaders (https://www.turing.ac.uk/news/childrens-views-ai-will-form-manifesto-world-leaders?utm_source=LinkedIn&utm_medium=Text_link&utm_campaign=Turing-News_childrens-views-ai-will-form-manifesto-world-leaders) AI to help us understand animal’s emotions (https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/16/researchers-are-training-ai-to-interpret-animal-emotions/?utm_source=pocket_shared) Sri Lankan grid taken out by monkeys (https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/10/sri_lanka_monkey_blackout?utm_source=pocket_shared) Recommendations Music This is Classic Club (https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/this-is-classic-club/pl.de3d438ba0724b3a8f309f333d9095b2) playlist, dance anthems (apple music) I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness - Fear is on our Side (https://music.apple.com/gb/album/fear-is-on-our-side/447611770) album, Alternative (apple music) Saafi Brothers - Mystic Cigarettes (https://music.apple.com/gb/album/mystic-cigarettes/279131194) album, electronic (apple music) Podcasts Cloud Dialogues (https://www.cloud-dialogues.com) podcast from our guest on episode 7, Georgia Smith Books The Power of Bad and How to Overcome it (https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/192339/the-power-of-bad-by-tierney-roy-f-baumeister-and-john/9780141975801) TV Am I being unreasonable? (https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001c3f7/am-i-being-unreasonable-series-1-episode-1?seriesId=m001c3f9-structural-1-m001c3f8) (BBC iPlayer) If you've enjoyed the show, please recommend us to someone else who would like it, leave us a rating/review, or give us some feedback. Give us your feedback about the podcast (https://www.ctrl-alt-expletive.com/feedback) Special Guest: Nikki Stearman.

8. 

   8 Feb 2025

   Episode 10: Career Changes and Coding Bootcamps, with Chris Hunter

   Michael keeps up with his "listen to 100 albums in a year" resolution. Mark has a weights rack of shame. Chris fails dry Jan by a matter of days. There's a 1% chance we'll all be mush anyway. GIVE US FEEDBACK! Do this form, it will take 4 mins (https://forms.office.com/e/gQJFBRJJAY) Chris Hunter Working in government on a project with other consultancies also contributing. Are they in competition? Lovely personal github readme (https://github.com/chriswhunter89) Quickfire Questions Hurling, GAA, or other? Most used terminal command at the moment? Dev or Ops, pick one for the rest of you life. Dream Industry to work in? Least enjoyable technologies you've worked with? Michael's weirdest habbit? How scared are you AI will take your job? What's your "getting down to write code" music? Breaking Prod Clean sheet, but has seen a team unable to deploy to prod for over a month! Big Topics Changing Careers You’ve had a big career change. What made you decide you wanted to change careers? Were you frustrated with the day-to-day job, or environment? Lack of variation? Lack of opportunities? Presumably you were on at least alright money, was it worrying taking a pay cut? Did you have to build a financial buffer to finance the change? Do you wish you had done it sooner? Or timed it right? How did you go about skilling up? Coding Bootcamp, at Le Wagon (https://www.lewagon.com/london) All in person, or online? What sort of topics did you cover? Anything you loved or hated? You had a few months gap after the coding bootcamp, before your job. Was that nerve wracking? To think you’d spent a few months of time/money, and not yet got a job? Were you already warmed up to the idea that finding work might just take a while? Did you get guidance on how to go about getting a job? Has the content you learned then all been useful? Any cruft? How is the pay now, relative to your previous role? Was it a great investment? Any advice for anyone considering a career change into tech? News AI sensors used in homes of vulnerable people (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp827ekneg4o) Ontario responds to Trump tariff by pitching Starlink deal into the trash (https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/03/ontario_canada_responds_to_trump_tariff/) EU's AltStore Gets First Native iOS Pornography App (https://www.macrumors.com/2025/02/03/eu-altstore-porn-app/) Irish AI minister has never used ChatGPT (https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/04/irish_ai_minister) Australia bans DeepSeek on government devices (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8d95v0nr1yo) Abandoned S3 buckets and the potential to do harm on a SolarWinds+ scale (https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/04/abandoned_aws_s3/?td=rt-3a) Elon Musk lies about gaming ability (https://fortune.com/2025/01/20/elon-musk-video-games-scandal-path-of-exile-asmongold-quin/) Recommendations Music The Long Forever, Elephant Tree & Lowrider (https://music.apple.com/gb/album/the-long-forever/1775636079) Studio Ghibli, Anime Music (https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/joe-hisaishi-studio-ghibli-works-essentials/pl.9d00cd92b13746c096dd552d24a46a3b) Podcast Search Engine: The New Zuckerberg (https://www.searchengine.show/listen/search-engine-1/the-new-zuckerberg) Movies Dune 2 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15239678/) The Brutalist (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8999762/) GIVE US FEEDBACK! Do this form, it will take 4 mins (https://forms.office.com/e/gQJFBRJJAY) Special Guest: Chris Hunter.

9. 

   31 Jan 2025

   Episode 9: Contracting Insights from 3 decades of Experience with Marie Wigmore

   Michael has caved and got a new microphone, China are back in the news, and we've got a better joke than last time. Michael is on the super stouts Marie is doing dry "couple-of-days" What's a plosion? Michael has over-researched micophones Is Feng-Shui a load of nonsense? Or Real? Marie rubbishes Mark's new years resolution Who is Marie Wigmore (https://www.ctrl-alt-expletive.com/guests/marie-wigmore)? Independent contractor for over 3 decades, currently engaged at BT Jira-avoidance wizard Graduate of the Youth Training Scheme, proud achiever of 5 O-Levels Driving Licence holder There will be a quiz at the end! Quickfire questions Inside or Outside IR35? Microsoft Project Planner or Jira? AI - scared or not scared? If you were in charge, what's your RTO policy? Do you prefer to consult for public sector, or consult for private sector? Sports Car or SUV? Most Expensive Dress you've ever worn? One fashion tip for Mark? Cat person or dog person? Breaking Production Leaderboard (https://www.ctrl-alt-expletive.com/breaking-prod-leaderboard) Clean Sheet, or Big Bang? Marie has a podcast exclusive for us, on the post office scandal. Bloody toffee-crisp eaters! Big Topics Contracting How has it changed? Are the good times behind us? How have the big 4 influenced government policy? Have you ever had any contracts go bad, mid-way through? In the past, you’ve got a contract coming to an end, it’s not getting renewed, you’ve got bills to pay. What’s the game plan for landing you next gig? Starting a consultancy What’s the gameplan for launching a new company? What are you gonna sell? How will you get clients? News for the week Experts urge caution over use of Chinese AI Deepseek (The Guardian) (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/28/experts-urge-caution-over-use-of-chinese-ai-deepseek) James Howells suing Newport council again, after partner binned bitcoin wallet, and they won't let him dig up landfill (BBC) (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgr0dyy152jo) Microsoft to acquire tiktok? (The Guardian) (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/28/donald-trump-microsoft-tiktok-purchase-claims) Google maps renaming, after Trump renaming (The Register) (https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/28/google_maps_trump_order/) Amazon prime air to launch in Darlington (Tech Crunch) (https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/28/amazons-prime-air-drone-service-is-headed-to-this-uk-town/) AWS & Microsoft CMA investigation (Computer Weekly) (https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366618449/AWS-and-Microsoft-could-face-targeted-intervention-from-CMA-over-UK-cloud-competition-concerns) Old news, but relevant: Chinese major hardware hack uncovered (The Guardian) (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/13/tech-giants-us-chinese-spy-chips-bloomberg-supermicro-amazon-apple) Recommendations Music Justice – Cross (https://music.apple.com/us/album/justice/259751732), electro/dance Underworld - Second toughest in the infants (https://music.apple.com/us/album/second-toughest-in-the-infants-remastered/1443227490), electro Sonny Federa (https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/sonny-fodera/324128050), DJ, House TV Mr McMahon (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33301469/), wrestling documentary Traitors: Uncloaked finale (https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00276n6/the-traitors-uncloaked-traitors-series-3-episode-12), with Claudia Winkleman Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action (https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81685634), documentary Girl You Know It's True (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21927594/), music movie about Milli Vanilli, who had one of the biggest scandals in music history The White Lotus (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13406094/), drama, comedy Gangs of London (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7661390/), Crime Drama Books Feng Shui Modern, by Cliff Tan (https://guardianbookshop.com/feng-shui-modern-9781526639998/) (Guardian Bookshop) Podcasts Designated Driver, the podcast for fans of Adam Driver (Podbean (https://designateddriveradam.podbean.com)) Jokes What do you call a Hippo on One Leg? Change your nickname on iOS (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb5eHXavk34) (YT video) Next Time: Chris Hunter joins us talking about coding bootcamps Follow us, like & subscribe Leave us a rating on Apple Podcasts/Spotify etc.. Find the trailers wherever you are: Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/ctrl_alt_expletive) YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@Ctrl-Alt-Expletive) LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/ctrl-alt-expletive/) Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/ctrl_alt_expletive/) BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/ctrl-alt-expletive.com) Our Website (https://www.ctrl-alt-expletive.com), where you'll find our breaking prod leaederboard and nationalities of guests and more. Special Guest: Marie Wigmore.

10. 

    24 Jan 2025

    Episode 8: Mark's fancy shaft

    What does James do? Is Sky a big company? What's your favourite file format to read from? Favourite format of book to digest? East London vs. West London What even is Burns Night? Deep fried battered scottish things James is dropping tables like it's hot... in the first week Big Topic Data. Big Data. HUGE Data. What's it like to leave after more than 10 years at one company? Why the change? Why not sooner? News Instagram hides search results for Democrats (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g32yxpdz0o) UK digital driving licences (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgkjjkjy4p8o) BT scraps EV charging scheme, having only installed... one. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c75zwyeq3v9o) Gotta be over 18 to watch porn in the UK from July (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwye3qw7gv7o) AI drugs are on the way (https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/22/google_deepmind_ai_drugs/) "Eventually you could imagine personalized medicine where it's optimized, maybe overnight, by an AI system for your personal metabolism" Is Melania Trump's autobiography written using ChatGPT? (https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/s/DeV5QrX7UL) Hulk Smash Muck and Zuck (https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/14/free_our_feeds_decentralized_social_media/) AI Brad Pitt dupes French woman out of €830,000 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgnz8rw1xgo) Excel World Championships with 7.5 hour live stream (https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-excel-world-championship-is-real-and-it-just-crowned-the-king-of-spreadsheets/) Working from home is “not proper work”, according to Lord Rose, of M&S and Asda (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0qww8xdvnwo) Recommendations Movies Civil War (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17279496/) Music The Middlenight Men - Issue 2 (https://music.apple.com/gb/album/issue-2/1745318732), rock Justice - Cross (https://music.apple.com/gb/album/justice/259751732), electronic dance TV Mr. McMahon (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33301469/) wrestling, on Netflix The Day of the Jackal (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt24053860/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_1) on Sky/NowTV Severance season 2 (https://tv.apple.com/gb/show/severance/umc.cmc.1srk2goyh2q2zdxcx605w8vtx), Apple TV Traitors is finishing this weekend (https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0db9b2t/the-traitors), BBC iPlayer Podcasts The rest is Entertainment (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-rest-is-entertainment/id1718287198) Here comes the guilotine, by Frankie Boyle (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/here-comes-the-guillotine/id1729090748) Special Guest: James Balloch.

11. 

    15 Jan 2025

    Episode 7: Executive Strategy, Consulting, and Age Care

    After an extended break, our first episode of the year is here! CES 2025 has come and been (https://www.ces.tech/) Michael thinks about persuading his cats to come to work I want to charge my phone in 5 econds Are we dry January-ing? No. Resolutions: Mark will play more darts Michael will listen to political podcasts and 2 new albums a week Georgia will go to places where people will help us meet goals What's it like being a Consultant Strategist? Companies are going full on RTO - why? Are governments pressuring big business back into the office? Georgia wastes 50k on unnecessary cloud spend, currently ranked about 2nd on our "Breaking Prod" leaderboard. Is the future of relationships just dating a robot? Big Topic Georgia has been involved in the disability and age care space. Some of the problems we've encountered, and how we can tackle them. How does Georgia fit it all in? In the News Tiktok ban looking likely (https://www.macrumors.com/2025/01/10/tiktok-ban-looking-likely-after-u-s-supreme-court-hears-case/) LG’s creepy air purifiers (https://mashable.com/article/ces-2025-lg-aero-cat-tower-creepy-cat) Apple Intelligence notification summaries not quite good enough (https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/dec/14/bbc-says-it-has-complained-to-apple-over-ai-generated-fake-news-attributed-to-broadcaster) Facebook ditching fact checkers (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/07/ditching-facebook-factcheckers-major-step-back-public-discourse) Facebook has AI profiles (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/03/meta-ai-powered-instagram-facebook-profiles) JP morgan 5 days RTO (https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2025/01/14/jpmorgan-disables-internal-comments-after-employee-backlash-over-rto-policy/#:%7E:text=The%20bank's%20leadership%2C%20in%20an,week%2C%20with%20only%20limited%20exceptions.) Ghostty terminal emulator release, from Mitchell Hashimoto (https://ghostty.org/) Recommendations Books Mark read (listened to) Nuclear War: A Scenario (https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Nuclear-War-Audiobook/B0CN3NXK3D) Mark has a potential contender for equally grim (because it’s true), Alexei Navalny’s Patriot (https://www.amazon.co.uk/PATRIOT-Pre-order-inspiring-fearless-opposition/dp/1847927033) TV: Black Doves (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27995113/) Spy Drama with Keira Knightly and Ben Whishaw Game of Throws (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34870889/) and Dart Kings on Sky for documentaries about darts now and then. Severance (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11280740/) Season 2 is out on Friday. Silo season 2 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14688458/) Traitors season 3 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23743442/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_traitors) Mr. MacMahon (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33301469/) on Netflix Music Cahill Costello (https://music.apple.com/gb/album/cahill-costello-ii/1770795493) Michael recommends getting a Stanley Cup Next time... We're hoping to have Sam Jones on, talking about burnout, journalling, and plenty more fun stuff. Special Guest: Georgia L. Smith.

12. 

    20 Dec 2024

    Episode 6: JP talks recruitment, and starting a company

    Jean-Paul Ashby, a seasoned recruiter and entrepreneur, shares expert insights on recruitment strategies, CVs, interviews, and starting a company, including launching his new venture Torch and navigating the challenges of team building.

13. 

    13 Dec 2024

    Episode 5: Data Center Repatriation

    Industry experts, including Ian Reeves, dive into data center repatriation, exploring the shift from public cloud to on-prem, and its implications for businesses and technology leaders.

14. 

    6 Dec 2024

    Mark's big cash giveaway

    Mark and Michael discuss AI's growing presence in daily life, from AI-generated news to a 14-year-old's digital braille reader, highlighting the tech's increasing impact on society.

15. 

    29 Nov 2024

    Episode 3: Fred's OpenAPI dishwasher

    Fredrik Alm, Infrastructure Architect, shares insights on Smart Home setups, DIY Dishwasher APIs, and the intersection of technology and trust in our increasingly connected world.

16. 

    22 Nov 2024

    Episode 2: Mitan's OnlyFans beard niche side hustle

    Mitan Patel shares his unorthodox path to a career break, leveraging AI tools like Bolt.new and Cursor.com, and reveals his creative side hustles in the niche beard niche on OnlyFans.

17. 

    14 Nov 2024

    Episode 1: Jess tells us career fairs are a real thing

    We're live! How early is too early for the Christmas Tree? How many plugs is the right number of plugs for your workspace? Who even are these people? Imposter syndrome is our big topic Who are these psychpaths that don't get imposter syndrome? Newsy stuff Excel turns 40, with a few bloopers of usage in that time (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/oct/28/microsoft-excels-bloopers-reel-40-years-of-spreadsheet-errors) Google has racked up $2.5 decillion of fines in Russia (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/stephentelford_russia-activity-7257710903033217024-vtux/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios) UK Gov website launches an AI chatbot (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/stephentelford_russia-activity-7257710903033217024-vtux/) AWS CDK flaw exposed accounts to full takeover (https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/24/aws_cloud_development_kit_flaw/) Apple Intelligence Ads are out in the US: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m0MoYKwVTM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m0MoYKwVTM) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deNzYrTvqCs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deNzYrTvqCs) Recommendations Music: The Cure - Songs of a Lost World, recommended by Michael (https://music.apple.com/gb/album/songs-of-a-lost-world/1768728131) Therapy?, recommended by Michael again and again (https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/therapy-essentials/pl.941fd3aa78954f6b9f988b4d4e0bef8e) Sleep Token, recommended by Jess (https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/sleep-token-essentials/pl.fdb79a40f1944786868890c6e1f94321) TV The Day of the Jackal, recommended by Mark (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt24053860/) The Penguin (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15435876/) Books Code Dependent - Living in the shadow of AI, recommended by Jess (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Code-Dependent-Living-Shadow-AI/dp/1529097304/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.4bghFkC-EctLND2dFkeHuxbwz1zO6lI-lfUGEK_kNLHGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.UdlJ-4KVvV6RvC5f1GhAkF4xGYTFv-d255HsuJxMbC0&qid=1731625709&sr=8-1) How Big things Get Done, recommended by Mark (https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Big-Things-Get-Done/dp/1035018934/) Deep Work by Cal Newport, recommended by Michael (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Deep-Work-Focused-Success-Distracted/dp/0349411905/) Games Baulder's Gate 3 (https://baldursgate3.game) Technology Dagger.io (https://dagger.io) Special Guest: Jess O'Neill.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

193

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Spotify

4.8 / 5

5 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 54 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

82

Social presence

0

YouTube

64

Engagement

0

Contact ctrl-alt-expletive

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.